This report, commissioned by the German Environment Agency and co-authored by Ecologic Institute, contains a detailed assessment of ten crediting methodologies on climate-friendly soil management measures. These crediting methodologies are examples of result-based payment and offsetting approaches to fund enhanced carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural practices. Our evaluation of these certification methodologies covers key aspects, including emission quantification, baseline setting, additionality, risk management, environmental and social impacts, and governance. We find many weaknesses with the assessed methodologies.
Soils are vital for climate mitigation, storing substantial carbon. This report, co-authored by Ecologic Institute's Hugh McDonald, Aaron Scheid and Dr. Ana Frelih-Larsen, examines funding approaches to promote climate-friendly soil management in Europe, focusing on two models: action-based and result-based. Action-based funding supports specific activities but doesn't ensure measurable outcomes, while result-based funding ties payments to verified results, encouraging innovation but involving higher costs and monitoring. Result-based funding approaches can be challenging in the context of soil carbon, with offsetting approaches found to be particularly risky.
Kemper, Melanie; Christin Dammann; Johanna Henkel; Juliane Petri 2024: Kommunikation zur Umsetzung von Moorschutz in Brandenburg – Empfehlungen und Handreichungen. Ecologic Institut und Deutscher Verband für Landschaftspflege. Unpublished.
Kemper, Melanie; Elisa Thomaset und Jennifer Reck 2024: Von Niederungsmanagement bis Versumpfung: Kommunikation zur Umsetzung von Moorschutz. Medienresonanz- und Kommunikationsanalyse in den moorreichen deutschen Bundesländern. Ecologic Institut, Berlin. Unpublished.
This paper analyses relevant enabling and hindering factors for the implementation of subsoil management in a regional context, focusing on (i) geophysical conditions and (ii) relevant socio-economic criteria in selected regions of Germany.
The report, "Overcoming policy, financial, social, and economic barriers to pondscape NBS for climate change mitigation and adaptation", has been released as part of the PONDERFUL project. Commissioned under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, this synthesis report refines and presents the final PONDERFUL framework – a comprehensive strategy for scaling up pondscapes as effective nature-based solutions (NbS).
The report ‘From Ideas to Action’ presents the strategy papers of the seven INTERLACE partner cities, which were developed in close cooperation with local stakeholders in Europe and Latin America. These papers highlight tailor-made strategies for nature-based solutions (NbS), including the revitalisation of urban parks in Chemnitz and the development of a search engine for green infrastructure projects in Kraków. The aim is to effectively address the unique challenges of each city, such as climate change, biodiversity loss and social inequality.
On 15 October 2024, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) published their landmark report on the state of water in the EU, the most comprehensive assessment of the status of European groundwater, rivers, lakes and coastal waters to date. Supported by Ecologic Institute through its coordination of the contributions from the European Topic Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystems, the publication analyses various European data flows relevant to water management, with a particular focus on data reported by the Member States under the EU Water Framework Directive.
With the Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF), adopted in 2024, the EU established a voluntary framework for carbon removal certification, which includes criteria for the certification of removals, rules for the certification process and the recognition of certification schemes. A new report by the Ecologic Institute and the Oeko-Institut for Germany’s Federal Environment Agency (UBA) discusses options for how certified removal units may be used. The report also explores what policy options are available to complement funding for removals besides revenues generated through the CRCF.
The Publications Office of the European Union has released an Independent Expert Report titled "Bridging Continents: Exploring the State-of-Play of Nature-Based Solutions in the EU and LAC: Building a Foundation for Collaboration", which was co-authored by Natalia Burgos and McKenna Davis of Ecologic Institute and Daniela Rizzi. This report delves into the progress, challenges, and opportunities in implementing nature-based solutions (NbS) across the European Union (EU) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
This report analyses the resilience of the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and shows how global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the war in Ukraine can affect its operation. In view of rising energy prices and economic uncertainties, it becomes clear that the EU ETS needs to improve its legal resilience to crisis situations. The report highlights necessary reforms to make emissions trading more resilient and effective in the future.
This paper examines whether an EU-wide pricing mechanism should be introduced and explores feasible design options. It concludes that the EU should price CH4 emissions from the energy sector to complement the EU-MER, providing an economic incentive to reduce CH4 emissions beyond the mandated level.
Der Bericht "Integrating Nature-Based Solutions in Policy and Planning. Findings and Lessons from INTERLACE Cities" (dt.: Erkenntnisse und Lektionen aus den INTERLACE-Städten), fasst die Erfahrungen der sieben Partnerstädte in Europa und Lateinamerika zusammen. Er richtet sich an politische Entscheidungsträger:innen und Stadtplaner:innen, die naturbasierte Lösungen (NbS) systematisch in ihre städtischen Planungs- und Governance-Strukturen einbinden möchten. Dabei betont die Publikation die Bedeutung inklusiver Beteiligungsprozesse sowie den Einsatz moderner Daten- und Finanzierungsinstrumente, um NbS auf eine breitere Ebene zu skalieren.
How can regional agricultural and food systems be made more sustainable? This report highlights new models of cooperation that bring together farmers, consumers and civil society actors to improve access to land and strengthen regional economic cycles. A key finding is that such co-operations are not only ecologically beneficial, but also create social and economic synergies for rural regions.
The present report describes and analyzes the legal and regulatory frameworks for ecological and environmental flows (eflows) in six European countries. This analysis contributes to an improved understanding of national policies and challenges for setting up and implementing eflows in Europe.